Spreadsheet software or applications are relatively well-known and useful tools. Typical spreadsheet applications simulate physical spreadsheets by capturing, displaying, and manipulating data arranged in rows and columns. At the intersection of the columns and the rows are cells. Cells within spreadsheets can contain: a number, a string, an error value, a blank value, etc. Furthermore, cells may also contain formulas that can operate on data in other cells and display the results. These formulas empower the user to create calculations and business logic that helps the user exploit the data.
Generally, spreadsheets are limited to the types of data or information that the spreadsheet can capture or manipulate. For example, spreadsheets may be able to display a currency as dollar sign followed by a number, or as a British Pound symbol followed by a number, but the spreadsheet is unable to specify how the currency is to be manipulated in mathematical formulas. Thus, when performing operations on the data, such as adding two different currencies, the spreadsheet fails to arrive at the correct result because the spreadsheet is unable to recognize that the two monetary values are different currencies and compensate for the exchange rate. As shown by this example, spreadsheets offer limited or, in some cases, incorrect functionality because of the limitations of the types of data the spreadsheets capture. It is with respect to these and other considerations that the present invention has been made.